Alcohol: 12.5 %
Grape(s): 100% Pinot Noir
Location: Essoyes, Côte des Bar, Champagne, France
Tasting Notes: Fresh red fruit leads, with wild strawberry, quetsch plum, nectarine and ripe lemon. Chiselled, silky and tense on the palate, with a long finish marked by minerality.
Notes: Les Cognaux is a 0.70 hectare Pinot Noir parcel at the top of the hill, planted in the early 1980s on clay-limestone soils with mostly gray clay and a south/southeast exposure. Fermented with native yeast and aged on fine lees in 225L barrels and 500L demi-muids for nine months, with natural malolactic fermentation, then 18 to 20 months on the lees in bottle. Disgorged à la volée as a Brut Nature with no dosage and no added sulfur.
Food Pairing: Oysters, seared scallops, roast chicken, charcuterie and soft cheeses.
Winery Story: Ruppert-Leroy is a small biodynamic Champagne estate in Essoyes, in the Aube's Côte des Bar, farming about four hectares. Bénédicte Leroy took over the family vineyards in 2009 with her husband Manu, on the condition that they could farm organically and make their own wines. The estate has been certified organic since 2013 and biodynamic (Demeter, Biodyvin) since 2014, and no sulfur has been used in the winery since the 2013 vintage. Every cuvée is made with native yeasts, without fining, filtering or dosage.
